status quo = 'situation'

[Jonathan Lighter]

Or maybe 'long-term situation.'  Truly, who can say?:

2011 Reuters  http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110318/bs_nm/us_markets_oil (March
18): "We may be facing the possibility of an entrenched status quo between
pro and anti Gaddafi groups," said Harry Tchilinguirian, analyst at BNP
Paribas.

Though OED defines "status quo" as "the existing state of affairs," it
usually implies a contrast of that state with a different one.
In the ex. above, there's no contrast that I can see.

JL

--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org